Sure enough, when we went upstairs, we found that our clothing had been rifled through and much of it was gone. Worst of all, my precious new laptop was gone without a trace, as if I’d dreamt the whole thing. I collapsed on the twin bed in the office and sobbed. Garen paced around the room, biting the side of his thumb as his mind raced. I felt as though I could see the wheels turning but I had no idea what he was thinking. There didn’t seem to be much that could be done to salvage the rest of our vacation without food or the rest of our clothing.
“Someone took the opportunity while we were gone to come in here and do this,” he said as if he was plotting out the scene himself. “Someone who knows us and knew somehow that we were here. Someone who’s clearly not our friend.” He paced the length of the room, becoming Sherlock before my tear-filled eyes.
He furrowed his dark eyebrows then and his glowing eyes grew dark along with them. “The assholes,” he snarled. “I don’t know how they found us here, but they did.”
I was so distraught as I watched him pace around the room, fuming. I didn’t want the wonderful vacation to end so soon, but there didn’t seem to be any other way… apart from sending poor Brock shopping again.
Brock!
“Is Brock still around here?” I asked Garen, a new fear gripping me. “Do you think they’ve attacked him or something? Normally he would’ve brought this matter to our attention, don’t you think?”
I felt so dumb and helpless in this situation. Even if I did somehow have powers, though, I didn’t know the first thing about how I would’ve been able to help this time. It wasn’t like Garen could magic our belongings or food back.
His eyes went wide when the revelation dawned on him as well. He took me by the hand and rushed out of the cabin with me, heading over to Brock’s cabin. The door and rooms were in the same state, but there was no sign of the servant.
This only served to make Garen angrier. He punched the wooden wall next to the front door, causing a large dent to appear there. He stalked back to our cabin with me close behind and went inside. Throwing things around like they didn’t much matter anymore, he started to pack up everything that we had. Everything except the things that we’d brought camping with us—those were still out front, lying in the frosty grass. I knelt down on the floor beside him and helped him collect the belongings.
We really didn’t have too much to take back home. The food was gone, the cooler was gone, all but a few shirts and the clothing we had on was gone… they’d even stolen my warm pajamas that I’d so been looking forward to wearing.
I willed myself not to cry anymore, and we brought our meager number of belongings outside with us. Garen didn’t bother locking the door this time. “I knew I should’ve just bought the place instead of renting it,” he muttered in defeat. “Then I could’ve had more security put into the place. But I didn’t want a fortress here. I wanted to be able to relax here with you and feel free.”
I hugged him close. “I know,” I said. “I’m sorry. But I appreciate how much you tried.”
He looked like he wanted to punch a wall again. The trees around us suddenly rustled and three dragon men appeared. One of them was Sam.
Chapter 9: Ambush
“Well, well, well,” Sam said, stepping forward out of the trees ahead of the other two shifters. He was speaking to Garen, but he only had eyes for me. I clutched my arm, glad that the birthmark was covered, even though it didn’t do any good to try and hide it now. “Lookee who we found here.”
“So you’re the assholes who made a mess of our cabin,” Garen said through gritted teeth. “I should’ve known. What have you done with my man?”
Sam tisked. “Oh, he’s around. He caused an awful mess. You should thank us for keeping him out of your pristine quarters.”
Garen lunged at him, but he was too quick, and the other two dragons were on him before he could evade their grasps. I screamed but it didn’t do any good. One of the others took charge of holding onto Garen, while Sam and the other dragon turned their attentions to me.
Each grabbing me by an arm, they hurried me into the cabin. I knew with a sinking heart that they weren’t just going to show off their handiwork from earlier. Sam wasted no time and took charge, forcing me down onto the battered couch. He went for the fly of his pants and unfastened them, pulling out his penis and staring at me with malice in his eyes.
“You’re awfully pretty when you’re scared,” he said to me, beginning to masturbate while I squirmed under his and the other dragon shifter’s grasp. It was going to be difficult for him to hold onto me while he stroked himself with one hand. I wanted that to work to my advantage, but the other man was strong and he held me down with both hands, keeping me from moving beyond a few squirms.
“This isn’t about how I look,” I said to him, summoning the power to keep my voice steady and full of rage instead of betraying how utterly terrified I was. “We both know it’s only about a dumb rumor you read on the internet.”
The other dragon appeared slightly doubtful. He looked at Sam’s face. “You fuck her and then I fuck her, right?” he asked, sounding about as dumb as he looked. “We both become black dragons then?”
“I’m afraid not,” Brock’s voice said from somewhere nearby.
A huge black tail crashed through the front of the cabin. A roar pierced the air and Garen’s giant form lunged into the room. Sam let go of his cock and screamed in fear, looking up at the massive black monster. Then his screams turned into blood-curdling shrieks as he transformed into the purple and gold dragon. I couldn’t believe that I had once thought that he looked funny that way. Up close, he was definitely scary.
The other, slower guy also shifted into a dragon. He was an orange and red one, and he didn’t seem to be as powerful as Sam. Hastily, I clambered off the couch and ran out of the cabin, staying close to Garen, but not too close, because I didn’t wish to get crushed by any part of his swinging body.
The dragons tussled with each other, snapping their mighty jaws and clawing at each other’s chests and wings. I found Brock standing outside, watching the madness unfold in front of him. I saw right away the reason why he hadn’t joined the fray. He had a huge gash along the right side of his body. He held his left hand to the worst of it, nearest his chest, but it didn’t seem to be helping him that much.
Garen and Sam shot up into the sky where they continued to fight each other. Now it was a battle that would involve one or both of them possibly plummeting to their deaths. The orange dragon joined them up there, but Sam clearly thought he was a nuisance, because he refused to let him really join in the fighting. I wondered what the point of having him there was.
I looked from the action above to Brock again, and then I noticed something lying motionless on the ground a few feet away.
It was the other shifter man. He was bloodied, green ooze coming out of his partially-shifted neck. He was dead.
I gasped and covered my mouth, trying not to retch from the sight of it. “Jesus Christ,” I said.
Brock looked at me and I could tell right away that he was a little woozy. As soon as this fight was over—we’d need to get this guy to the hospital. I wondered if there were any dragon hospitals around. I wonder if they say they’re dragon hospitals in the phone book. Normies would definitely notice that.
Garen and Sam came crashing back down, landing with an earth-quaking jolt on top of what remained of the cabin. I brought both hands to my mouth. It’s very good that he doesn’t own that cabin, I thought. Still, he was going to have to pay a lot in property damages.
“Garen!” I shouted, hoping him to be okay and that he was going to emerge victorious. I’d seen him fight what I considered to be tougher guys than this, but then I didn’t know exactly how powerful Sam could be.
Just then, I saw the black shape of Garen lift up his head from the rubble. In his mouth, he held Sam by the neck and he thrashed it around several times for good measure, sending yellowish red blood everywhere. I made a d
isgusted face and hid behind Brock as best as I could. I didn’t need any more confirmation; Sam the purple dragon menace was dead.
Garen was slow-going at first after that fight. He collapsed in a bit of a heap, breathing heavily. I left the safety behind the broken but not beaten Brock and went over to the large, black dragon. I looked up and realized that there was no more sign of the orange dragon. I guessed that Garen had scared him off. He didn’t seem like he’d signed up for this sort of thing.
“Are you all right?” I asked Garen, gently laying my hands on his snout as soon as I was close enough to do so.
He was still breathing heavily, but he smiled when he saw me there unharmed. When he smiled as a dragon, there was something disturbing yet adorable about it. His fangs finally looked like they fit his face.
After some time and some more deep breathing, Garen changed back into his human form. I could see then, as I looked at him, that he had quite a few gashes and cuts as well. “Jesus,” I said, hugging him gently and trying not to squeeze too much even though I really wanted to. “Do I need to take you both to the dragon doctor?”
Garen screwed his face up into a half-smile, half-grimace. “There’s no such thing,” he said. “Unfortunately. But time heals all wounds.”
I thought he was trying to be poetic at first, but he looked at me so seriously that I knew that he meant it. Like in a cartoon, he and Brock were going to be fine. They might just need some Band-Aids.
Carefully, I helped Garen up from where he lay sprawled out on the ground. His teeth were covered with the blood that had oozed out of his opponent. Sam’s lifeless body lay there near Garen’s feet, and he was also back in his human form.
“The stupid bastard,” Garen said, lightly kicking Sam’s foot. “He should never have given into temptation.”
I knew what he meant all too well now. That man had been moments away from raping me. I moved to Garen and threw my arms around his neck, careful yet again to not squeeze too hard as I hugged him. I kissed him on the face and neck for good measure. “I’m so glad you’re okay, my hero,” I said. “I don’t know about you but I’m ready to leave this god-forsaken place. Even though it hurts to leave our vacation so soon.”
Brock nodded his head in agreement, walking up to us and still holding onto his side as if he was trying to keep his intestines in place. Looking him over, I knew that he wasn’t that injured, but I still thought that he should be checked out by some kind of doctor.
We packed up the remainder of our things, which served as a harsh reality regarding the situation that had just unfolded. Not only did we get attacked by those men, but they’d stolen more than half of our belongings. Including my brand new laptop. Now was my turn to be pissed.
“That fucking jerk,” I said, glaring at Sam’s still warm corpse.
“At least they lightened the load for us,” Garen said, trying to make some light of things. “There’s no use getting upset about it all over again. What’s done is done. Let’s get home and we’ll worry about all of this another time, when we can think more clearly.”
The voice of reason as always, I thought, feeling moody but still appreciating that he was able to remain calm when situations called for it.
Even though Brock was hurt, he still took one of the duffel bags—the lighter one that was only full of a few clothing items—and he took off into the air, a brownish-red dragon once more.
“Hold on tight, but try not to hold on too tight,” Garen said to me then, smiling a little. Some of his teeth still glistened with blood, but I did my best to ignore that. I could sense a fair amount of pain behind that smile of his. It hurt my heart a little to see that coming from him, the strongest of all dragons. He then collected me on his back as well as the rest of the bags, and we slowly began the three hour journey home to Chicago, where we weren’t ever going to be entirely safe, either. Yaaay.
The flight back home was no less long than it was the first time, unlike our stroll around the lake. In fact, it seemed to take much longer, what with Garen’s need to keep a slower pace due to his cuts and bruises. I didn’t begrudge him this, but I was angered by Sam all over again when I thought about it. Sam had had the nerve to fly all the way from Peoria just so he could terrorize us on our little vacation. He clearly didn’t have much of a life.
Unlike last time, I found that I couldn’t fall asleep. Too much was on my mind, including Garen’s injuries. He probably shouldn’t be flying, I reasoned. And neither should Brock. I should never have let them do this. Suppose that one or both of them gets even more hurt?
God, I’m starting to sound like my mother.
I felt a nagging pain then. I missed my mother.
I wondered what it must’ve been like for her and my father. They were off safe in Canada, not worrying about this kind of bullshit happening to them. They were able to go out shopping and to dinner, and to the movies. I really missed being able to live a normal life like they could. Sure, their only child was missing and living with a mysterious dragon man, but at least they could go for a walk every now and again. At least they knew, barring any evidence to the contrary, that I was alive and okay somewhere.
Somewhere close to home.
I felt wistful, and I never usually felt wistful.
When we arrived back at the mansion in Washington Park, the first thing I wanted to do was get a good look at both men’s injuries. What I was actually allowed to do however, was to help bring in the bags and see that things were put in their appropriate places for cleaning. This I didn’t mind, since I’d volunteered to help with dishes anyway. The dishes in this case were paper, though, so clean up was a lot easier.
After everything was brought in, Brock laid down on the couch in the living room, and didn’t seem like he was going to want to move any time soon. I agreed with that sentiment. We’d only been gone three days and it had been enough to make me need another vacation—this one in a spa with ample time for sleeping.
Garen and I went up to the master bedroom and got into bed, throwing our clothes off on the way. Even though we’d left Montana and a lot of the reason for the new clothes back there with it, we were still going to need someone to go shopping. Maybe not Garen, because all of his suits were safe in the closet of our mansion, but I hoped that Brock might be able to find several of the outfits he’d picked out for me before.
But only after he’d given himself his much-deserved rest, of course.
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” Garen said to me the following morning, after I’d finally been wrenched away from my dream world and plunked back down into harsh reality. The awful memories came back.
“It happened to us,” I corrected. “And it’s my fault. I should’ve just listened to you and been content to stay right here where it’s safe. I keep telling you that I trust you, but then I go and ask for more.”
He shook his head. “Shh,” he said soothingly. “Don’t say that. It’s not your fault. None of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t tried to take you to that stupid restaurant in Peoria. I can’t fault you for having trust issues. I trusted Sam Fields, and look where that got me.”
I suddenly felt very sad for him. Sam had been his friend, one of only so many, based on stories he’d finally started to tell me. And now he was down that friend. How many other friends did he have? I didn’t think that Brock and Ash counted.
“Friends can be the worst sometimes,” I said, hoping that my empathy might work to cheer him up some. “I never really had that many myself. I was always so focused on my schoolwork and my extra-curriculars… But you don’t care about that.”
Garen laughed softly. “No, I do care. I want to learn about you, just like I want you to keep learning about me. It’d be pretty hard to trust one another and work together effectively if we don’t have any interest in each other’s lives.”
I nodded a little. “That’s true,” I replied.
Now that we were back home, I knew that things were going to settle back into the wa
y they’d been before. I didn’t want them to, but there seemed to be no way to avoid it. Changing things up had failed dramatically. But at least this time we’d know each other a little better. Maybe I would feel less like I was alone. Garen had spent his whole life feeling that way until he met me. Maybe I wasn’t so different from him, really.
I had a random thought. “Where’s Ash?” I asked, sitting up and resting on my elbows.
“He watched the house while we were gone,” Garen replied. “He’s on overhead duty like he always is, now that we’re back.”
“Are you sure about that?” I questioned, looking into his eyes searchingly. Ever since that close one with Brock, I felt like I was going to be extra protective of our tireless guards. “I haven’t seen him since we left.”
Garen smiled at me and petted my hair. “You can relax now,” he said calmly. “Everything is back to normal.”
Just as I thought.
Rather than just going back to work after that whole ordeal like I thought he would try to do, Garen instead elected to stay home and be with me in order to finish out the rest of the vacation. “Just because we’re not in Whitefish doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy ourselves,” he said to me one afternoon on which he’d made me promise not to play on the computer or my phone and not even think about opening one of my textbooks.
I tried to feel happy that he’d continued to take time off even though he could’ve returned to work, but inside I felt quite sad. My one chance to spend time with him someplace new and exciting had been ruined, yet again, because of my birthmark and my apparent place in the dragons’ world. I could never be treated like a normal girl because nothing about me was normal to the dragons. It didn’t matter if I wore a long sleeved shirt or walked without Garen beside me. Somehow, the evil dragons still knew.
And the amount of evil dragons was clearly continuing to grow, now that word had gotten around about Garen’s new powers and appearance. “What is it about you that’s so different anyway?” I asked him. “No offense. All I’ve really noticed is that you’re black now instead of green.”
Abducted By The Dragons: The Complete Series Page 16